In early April, Christopher Luxon and David Seymour addressed journalists with promises of several policies aimed at reducing absences in public schools.
These policies join other policies introduced by the current government, such as the school cellphone ban and ban on disposable vapes, which hope to improve education outcomes in our schools and increase attendance.
Additionally, the government recently announced 565 job cuts in the Ministry of Education, including some currently vacant roles, in part of their larger move to cut costs across all ministries.
Wire host Castor spoke to the president of the Secondary Principals Association NZ and principal of Papatoetoe highschool, Vaughan Couillault, about these changes and how they affect teachers on the ground in Aotearoa.
Last week, the Department of Corrections announced that it had axed four contracts with community organisations providing mental health support services to prison inmates.
This comes amidst an internal review of mental health services within Corrections, leading to these contracts being the next set of public service initiatives to face cuts under the coalition government.
Oto spoke to Ti Lamusse, a Lecturer in Criminology at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, to discuss these cuts and mental health services for prisoners in general.
They also had a discussion about new figures showing that the prison population of Aotearoa had exceeded 10,000 inmates, for the first time in four years.
Just last week, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister - Judith Collins, announced that the government would be slashing funding to humanities and social sciences programmes funded under the Marsden Fund.
Collins said that Marsden funding needed to be redirected to natural science fields, such as physics, mathematics and biology, which she said had more "tangible" impacts on the economy.
However, the move has been criticised by academics from both humanities and social sciences background, who've highlighted the importance of social science in highlighting societal inequities and called the funding cuts "ideologically-driven".
Oto spoke to Nicola Gaston from the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland for her perspective on the cuts to humanities and social science programs in the Marsden fund as a professor in a natural science field.
Kāhui Ako is a government programme providing funding to teachers and schools identified by the government as having greater educational quality. Recent government leaks have revealed that the programme may be cut.
While the programme did provide funding for the education sector, its implementation was inconsistent.
To discuss the programme, why it's being cut, and what the government could do for education, Wire host Castor spoke to Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Education at the University of Auckland, Camilla Highfield.
Hunter Keane talks to Connan Mockasin about the ins and outs of his most recent collaboration with Sam Dust (Late of The Pier, LA Priest) called 'Soft Hair'.
Labour's Andrew Little is back for our weekly chat. This week, Jogai discusses concerns highlighted in the People's Mental Health Report and Labour's plans to prevent tens of thousands of immigrants coming into the country.
We look at new research from Unitec showing significant numbers of students are considering dropping out because of financial struggles. Including interviews with Alison Dow, Manager of Student Engagement and Experience at Unitec, NZUSA President Jonathon Gee, AUSA President Will Matthews and students from Auckland University.
This week, the third of our special NZ Music Month series, Sam takes a look at the debut album from indie rock band Cut Off Your Hands "You & I." Released in 2008, this album is considered a late-00s indie classic with flowing melodies and jangle guitar lines.
Courses in the Universities School of Social Sciences have been revealed, with 250 courses from within the school approximated by a Senior lecturer within the faculty of arts. Laura Kvigstad, investigates on the claim speaking with both Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Robert Greenberg and Sociology Lecturer, Bruce Cohen on the changes. She gets both the perspective from management and the staff on the changes, hearing why it is happening but also what the potential ramifications are for the deletions.
Ōtautahi based game development studio Fnife Games has recently put their queer narrative indie game demo, Small Town Emo, onto Steam, after it’s release earlier on this year.
The demo goes through a nostalgic day in the life of a queer teenager in small town Aotearoa, aiming to recall the memories of the late 2000’s through the style of a Nintendo Game Boy.
Liam had a chat with Thomas Barrer, the main developer, artist, and writer behind the game, about its production and eventual release. This is the extended cut, where we also talk about Fnife Games' other projects and other stuff.
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